Make Heads Turn With Your Organic Rose Garden!

By: Abhishek Agarwal

The popularity of organic gardening methods will lead to a healthier community and environment at large. A part of this is using organic gardening to grow rose gardens. Roses have always topped the popularity charts when it comes to flowers, and they are the favorites of most people worldwide. Gardeners find it a special treat to be able to grow these beautiful, fragrant flowers in different varieties, as they add a touch of grace to any garden. Apart from being so beautiful, the rose plant also has medicinal properties. The petals of the rose flower contain tannin, the astringent - effective in the control of wounds which bleed.

These petals as well as rose water also help to cure stomach problems. However, the roses are being weakened because of consistent hybridization and being exposed to pathogen attacks in this manner. Hybrid roses may be beautiful but they are also really weak. Organic gardening is a different approach and uses organisms, extracts of plants and natural waste to enhance soil quality. Organisms form natural symbiotic relationships, in which each helps the other survive.

An example of one such symbiotic relationship in context with rose gardens is the relationship between rose plants and the Mycorrhizal fungus. The fungus attaches itself to the roots of the rose plants in order to use the carbohydrates stored there for survival, and in turn helps the rose plant of absorb enriching minerals much better than it otherwise would. Another such symbiotic relationship is seen to exist between the root secretions of the rose plants and certain bacteria.

These bacteria use the secretions to thrive and in turn get rid of potentially harmful fungi that could prove really dangerous to the rose plant. Another thing that really enhances the rose plant's ability to absorb minerals is the natural humus comprising decomposed plant leaves and stems, aided by the organisms that live in the soil. Compost and humus really enrich the rose plant and aid growth and fertility, resulting in a thriving and blooming organic rose garden. You could also try companion plants in your organic rose garden; because they help each other grow. Roses and garlic or onion trees make each other thrive, and get along very well together, so plant them side by side for healthy rose, onion and/or garlic plants.

Other companions for your precious roses include the marigold, thyme and mignonette plants. Plant roses ideally in early summer or spring, and keep them at a comfortable distance away from each other. They love loads of water when its time for them to bloom. They should be soaked thoroughly in the morning or the evening, and organic compost and fertilizers should be added to their soil during growing season. They thrive when the soil has a pH of 5.5 to 7. Mulching benefits rose plants immensely, so leaves and bark should be scattered over the topsoil. After early spring growth begins, it is a good idea to prune the roses. The spent flowers should be -headed to achieve a better bloom overall.

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Caring For Rose Bushes

By: Steven Yeoh

Growing roses can be an invigorating experience if you know how to care for your rose bushes. Timely pruning, fertilizing and spraying can ease your task to a great extent so that you do not have to worry about diseases and pests.

One main point to be noted while taking care of your rose plants is that they need the right amount of water. Too much or too little of watering can kill the delicate rose bushes. Too much of water may leave the roots shallow thus making them unable to absorb essential nutrients and develop a strong root system. Shallow watering may encourage fungal growth; thus deep watering is preferred. The leaves too need to be kept dry or else they will be plagued by diseases.

Making the soil around the plant rich in potassium will also help in the flowering season. Many rose experts suggest filling a trench or placing banana peels which is rich in phosphates, sulphur, potassium, magnesium at the base of the plant. Fertilizing is essential for good flowering. Also the pH level of the soil should be maintained from 6.0 to 6.5 and checked regularly.

Choosing the right spot in your garden is essential too as your rose bush requires adequate sunlight for at least six hours a day.

Spraying the right medicines on the leaves ensures that insects do not kill your rose bushes. This will prevent the growth of mildew, rust, black spot and other such diseases that attack even the hardiest of plants.

Do not let weeds grow around your rose plants and thus deprive them of their beauty and essential food. Mulching or adding organic matter around the rose bushes is the best way to achieve this.

Pruning and trimming the rose bushes at the right time will ensure that the roses bloom into beautiful, full flowers. This should be done at the end of the winter season. Pruning should be done as little as possible and not till the ground. blooms should also be cut. Crossing canes, spindly stalks and wood should also be cleared.

In the winter months, cover the ground next to your rose bush with mulch to prevent the roots from freezing. There are many ways to protect your rose bushes in the winter. Find out from your local rose nursery the best way to go about it.

Care well for your rose bushes from the start as this will help you a long way ahead.

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How To Design A Garden

By: Jimmy Cox

There are always the few in every community who strive to excel. When these folk apply their diligence to gardening, either they have a superlative generalized garden or they specialize in one type of plant. This is not so with the vast majority of home-dwellers. They have a garden of many types of plants, but, almost invariably, roses are the most highly prized. It is often said that roses will not thrive in beds with other plants, but some of the finest blooms I have ever seen have been on rose plants surrounded by small annuals or vegetables.

It is hard to argue against such results. In fact, I think it is statements of the former kind that make people believe that roses are hard to grow and that the successful grower is akin to a magician. Any good garden soil will suit most garden plants, and the rose is the most common and most desired of them all.

In laying out a garden there are many guiding principles, observance of which will give better results by way of both growth and effect. Before proceeding with any lay-out of your garden, test the natural drainage of the area. Most gardens will benefit by artificial drainage, though few have had this preparation. It is essential in cold, wet, heavy soils.

General Arrangement

The area in front of the home and any other part that is exposed to public view should give an attractive display and should enhance the general appearance of the house. Other parts less likely to be seen by passers-by should be carefully planned with much the same motive, but from them the gardener will expect to gather most of his indoor decorations, and in them he must find space for such things as a garage, a tool-shed, a compost heap, and a clothes-line.

A good garden-planner will convert secluded areas into small vistas conducive to relaxation. Advantage should be taken of any fall of the land or other natural features, such as a projecting rock, to build terraces and grassy banks. If the area is too small for such schemes a small retaining-wall will allow a change of level in two adjacent areas.

Most soils need digging about eighteen inches deep before any planting is done, even the lawns; some soils need trenching. At the same time one must attend to removal of weeds, drainage, and addition of plant foods. The weeds should never be burnt or carted away, but thrown in a heap to rot. Allow the whole area to settle well before attempting to level it. Meanwhile more weeds will appear, and a little surface-digging to remove them while they are still small will help in soil preparation.

Shape And General Care Of Lawns

Small beds not only confuse a plan but greatly increase the length of lawn edges and the difficulties in watering. Edges are much more pleasing if curved.

Design the shape of the lawns rather than that of the beds. The contour of the lawns will always be conspicuous, but that of the beds will soon be obscured by plants, except in the case of small feature-beds. These are seldom attractive and are suited only to low-growing plants, but if one is desired, place it, not in the centre of the lawn, but towards one corner, thus helping to create an illusion of distance. This impression is never easy to obtain in small areas, but no detail should be overlooked in striving for it.

In the same quest, lawns can be made to look longer and bigger by running them nearly to the corners of the area. This will leave short narrow parts of beds at the ends of these lawns. They must be filled in with climbers or with dense vertical shrubs to hide the fence or wall.

With a little thought and planning the most beautiful gardens can be designed to enhance every dwelling. Happy gardening!

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Understanding The Beauty Of A Rose

By: Jimmy Cox

The rose is, by general consent, the queen of flowers. This is acknowledged even by those who specialize in such flowers as dahlias, chrysanthemums, sweet peas, carnations and many others. Why this should be is not easy to explain because, after all, most flowers seen through the eyes of those who grow them have an equal claim to be the most beautiful, and yet who would deny the pre-eminence of the rose?

It can be truthfully said that the rose is the only plant with which a complete garden can be made. One could fill a garden with any other kind of plant and thereby obtain a fine display of blooms, but such a garden would be dull and uninteresting except to the person interested in that particular flower. This would not be the case for a garden of roses.

The rose has not always held this unique place in our esteem, for it is the result of long, patient work by the hybridists who in the last fifty years or so have given us such diverse types, and have lengthened the period of flowering to an extent exceeded by no other flower.

The uses of the rose
The uses to which our modern roses can be put are many. There are the Ramblers of the Dorothy Perkins type, with their long pliable growth which can be trained to almost any position. When budded on to a tall stem to form a weeping standard they do not object to having their growth suspended upside down.

The Hybrid Teas are, of course, by far the largest class and still remain the most popular, and rightly so, for it is from these that the finest blooms are obtained. One can have these as dwarf plants for planting in beds or borders, or as standards, which are very useful for breaking up the levels, or as specimen plants.

In the last few years the Floribunda roses have forged ahead in popularity, which is very understandable considering the ease with which they are grown, their hardiness and very free-blooming qualities. This class is destined to become much larger in the next few years, and even now there are some new varieties embracing colours never yet seen before in the rose.

For the shrub border and wild garden there are the rose species, giving a glorious show of bloom in the early summer, to be followed in the autumn by a brilliant display of hops.

The rose is one of the few flowers that is beautiful in all its stages of development. Most other flowers are seen at their best only in their fully developed state. The rose, however, is beautiful from the time the sepals divide until the petals fall, each stage different and each charming.

In the range of color, the rose can more than hold its own, embracing as it does almost every shade except blue. Even that need not be excepted if one's imagination can stretch so far as to describe Veilchenblau, the so-called Blue Rose, as blue.

Scent in modern roses

Nor is the rose lacking in perfume, in spite of the number of uninformed persons who write to the press deploring its absence. Although it is true that many modern roses are almost scentless, it is by no means a condition peculiar to the present time, for some of the most popular roses of the last century were entirely without scent.

Little appears to be known why scent should come and go in successive generations of seedlings, but I am confident that in time, scent will be present in increasing quantities. However, we are not so badly off in this respect, and it is possible to have a fully representative collection of modern roses, comprising every known type, without having a single scentless rose, although in doing so one would miss many varieties which provide masses of glorious colour.

More could be said about the wonderful world of roses, but all should agree that it deserves its title as "queen of flowers."

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The Fragrant History of Roses

The love of flowers, especially the rose, is universal, one of the simple but beautiful things of life that cannot be destroyed even by the mechanization, noise, and overcrowding of modern cities. The poorest home in a city slum will have its geranium, its hollyhock, its cactus or its wallflower, and usually its rose, struggling for existence perhaps, but bravely representing man's undying love for plants.

Man is a gardener by instinct. However limited may be his opportunity because of restricted area, lack of leisure time, or physical disability, some use is made of the floral gifts that Nature pours out to us so generously.

Some houses and flats have no more than a commonplace shrub, a narrow strip of lawn, or just a window-box or a pot-plant a patch of color contrasting with a drab wall and unimaginative surroundings. Meager as it may be, each is somebody's garden, and is associated with an apparently inevitable affection for trees that give us shade, lawns that ease our tread and soften the surrounding harshness, and flowers with their wonderful fragrance and beauty.

There is beauty in any garden, small and simple, or large and elaborate. There is beauty in any plant, leaf, or flower-even in those we choose to call 'weeds'.

The rose has ever been the world's favorite flower, the pride of the rich and poor the rich because it has no superior, the poor because, despite its superiority, its plants have never been beyond their reach. Easy to grow, lavish with its blooms, adaptable to almost any conditions, the rose is the unchallenged Queen of Flowers.

By careful plant-breeding almost all flowers have been vastly improved in the last century, but the rose has maintained it is pre-eminence to such an extent that no garden seems complete without it, and its blooms are always the most cherished of cut flowers.

There are approximately five thousand varieties of roses being grown today, surely an embarrassment of riches, but the average rosarian surveys a modern catalogue, selects varieties that meet his needs, and is content. It is not the number he grows that matters; it is the pleasure he derives from them.

The origin of the rose is quite prehistoric; geologists tell us of evidence of its existence more than thirty-five million years ago. It is mentioned in many of the earliest writings, and it has been found indigenous to almost every part of the Northern Hemisphere, even to Iceland and Lapland, but never south of the Equator.

The Earliest Roses

All the original roses were five-petalled, but double roses have existed since long before any surviving records were made. These are really freaks, in that many of their stamens have been metamorphosed into petals. The earliest roses are usually referred to as rose species. They vary in color from white to deep pink and dull red, while yellow is represented by the double Rosa hemispherica (R. sulfhured) and, probably of earlier origin, the single JR. foetida (the Yellow Austrian Briar), a very misleading name, for its original habitat was from Crimea to Thibet, far from Austria.

Its companion, R. foetida var. hicolor, is the only bicoloured species, having, in most flowers, petals that are of a deep copper colour on the inner side and vivid yellow on the reverse; in some of its flowers yellow appears in stripes, on half a petal, or even more, in place of the darker colour.

R. centifolia (the Cabbage Rose, Hundred Petalled Rose, or Provence Rose) in the gardens of Midas is described by Herodotus (about 484-425 B.C.), "The Father of History". Hippocrates (460-361 B.C.), Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Virgil (70-19 B.C.), Ovid (43 B.c-A.D.17), Horace (65-8 B.C.), and Juvenal (A.D. 60-140) all laud the rose. Omar Khayyam (A.D. 1050-1123) knew R. damascena (the Damask Rose) and it still grows on his grave at Nishapur.

In the House of Frescoes at Knossus, Crete, is the earliest known European depiction of a rose, painted about 1550 B.C. It had six petals instead of the usual five, probably an error.

The love of roses will never die, but will live on to produce and nurture these wonderful flowers.

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